[Footnote 52: Mr. More, in his account of these voyages, says that
Marco Polo, in his _Travels_, and Father Martini, in his _History of
China_, speak of this bird, called _ruch_, and say it will take up an
elephant and a rhinoceros. It is as fabulous as the dodo, the
salamander, or the phoenix.]

As I walked through this valley, I perceived it was strewn with
diamonds, some of which were of surprising bigness. I took pleasure in
looking upon them; but shortly I saw at a distance such objects as
greatly diminished my satisfaction, and which I could not view without
terror, namely, a great number of serpents, so monstrous that the
least of them was capable of swallowing an elephant. They retired in
the daytime to their dens, where they hid themselves from the roc,
their enemy, and came out only in the night.

I spent the day in walking about in the valley, resting myself at
times in such places as I thought most convenient. When night came on
I went into a cave, where I thought I might repose in safety. I
secured the entrance, which was low and narrow, with a great stone, to
preserve me from the serpents; but not so far as to exclude the light.
I supped on part of my provisions, but the serpents, which began
hissing round me, put me into such extreme fear that I did not sleep.
When day appeared the serpents retired, and I came out of the cave,
trembling. I can justly say that I walked upon diamonds without
feeling any inclination to touch them. At last I sat down, and
notwithstanding my apprehensions, not having closed my eyes during the
night, fell asleep, after having eaten a little more of my provisions.
But I had scarcely shut my eyes when something that fell by me with a
great noise awakened me. This was a large piece of raw meat; and at
the same time I saw several others fall down from the rocks in
different places.

I had always regarded as fabulous what I had heard sailors and others
relate of the valley of diamonds, and of the stratagems employed by
merchants to obtain jewels from thence; but now I found that they had
stated nothing but the truth. For the fact is, that the merchants come
to the neighborhood of this valley, when the eagles have young ones,
and throwing great joints of meat into the valley, the diamonds, upon
whose points they fall, stick to them; the eagles, which are stronger
in this country than anywhere else, pounce with great force upon those
pieces of meat, and carry them to their nests on